Gas-engine



- 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

0'. W. BALDWIN.

GAS ENGINE.

No. 368,444. Y Patented Aug. 16, 1887.

CT 51/, aw

N Pcrzns Phawutm upher. Washinglnn. D I;

(No Model.)

G. W. BALDWIN.

GAS ENGINE.

Patented Aglg. 16, 1887.

4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

N. PETERS. Pholomhograpmr, Wuhmmon. u. c.

(No Model.) 4 Slieets-Sheet 3.-

- G. W. BALDWIN.

GAS ENGINE.

No. 368,444. Patelited Aug. 16, 1887.

N. PETERS, Pmwume n mr, wmuinmon. O. c.

4 SheetsSheet 4.

(No Model.)

0. W. BALDWIN.

GAS ENGINE.

Patented Aug. 16, 1887.

N PETERS. Pvwwumo i m, wmin m, u.c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CYRUS WV. BALDIVIN, OF YONKERS, NEWV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO XVILLIAM E. HALE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GAS-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 368,444, dated August 16, 1887. Application filed Septembcr13,1886. Serial No. $3,424. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CYRUS XV. BALDWIN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Yonkers, \Vestchester county, New York, have invented a newand useful Improvement in Gas-Engines, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to that class of gas-engines in which the piston is moved by the explosive combustion of a mixture of gas and air; and my invention consists in the method of and contrivances for regulating the engine, substantially as set forth hereinafter, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of agas-engine illustrating my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 1 2, Fig. 2. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, in part section, showing the regulating devices and reservoir. Fig. 4 is a detached view showing in elevation part of the devices shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the engine, part of the cylinder removed. Fig. 6 is an external view of the plug of the gas-valve. Figs. 7, 8, and 9 are enlarged sections of the gascock, showing the plug in different positions.

It has been found that a gas-engine works most effectively when using a mixture of uniform quality, and that the engine is best regulated by varying the quantity rather than the quality of the explosive mixture.

\Vithin certain limits as to speed, when the engine is running under resistance, the volumes of the charges can be varied without any objectionable result; but when the resistance is suddenly decreased (as results when a number of tools or apparatus are thrown simultaneously out of operation, or when in a pump the water is suddenly cut off) it is difficult to introduce an explosive charge of the normal quality so small as to properly reduce the strength of the explosions and prevent an undue increase in the speed of the engine. Furthermore, when the resistance is wholly or almost entirely thrown off, (when an explosion to every three or four revolutions would be sufficient to maintain the proper speed of the engine,) there is a considerable loss of gas from the introduction of a small charge at each stroke, not sufficient to explode when diluted with the gases in the cylinder, and which passes practically unconsumed out of the exhaust.

WVhile I maintain the uniform quality of the mixture and vary the charges thereof to regulate the operations of the engine when approximating its maximum work, I avoid the objections above set forth by reducing the strength of the mixture when the resistance has decreased to such great extent as to render only very light explosions necessary to effect the work required, and I wholly cut off the supply of mixture to the reservoir or storagechamber whenever the resistance is so light as to render it undesirable to explode a charge at each outstroke of the piston. By this means I am enabled in doing light work to operate with charges of such a volume as can be of fectively employed, but without causing explosions of too powerful a character, and can thus explode a charge at each stroke and maintain a uniform speed when running on light work, and when only nominal work is required I maintain the movement of the engine without the use of any mixture except when explosions are required. I have devised different contrivances for effecting these variations in the character and supply of the charges, and will now describe one construction which I have foundto be effective.

The general form of the gas-engine used by me is illustrated in the sectional elevation.

Fig. l, E being the base, G the cylinder, F

the reservoir, and 61 the air-inlet and 62 the gas-inlet to the reservoir. These parts are regulated to normally furnish to the reservoir a supply of mixture in which the gas and air are in such proportions as to secure the most ef fective explosions and the maximum power, and the engine is regulated by varying the quantities of the charges admitted to the cylinder, by varying theliftof an inlet-valve, h. To regulate the action of the valve IL I employ a governor, A, which may be a ball-governor or of other suitable construction, and between the governor and the valve I employ regulat ing devices, as follows:

Bis what I term a spool, conisting of a sleeve provided with two parallel circular heads or flanges, j Z, or of such flanges mounted upon a spindle, a, and preferably adjustable thereon. tion of the governor-shaft 3, to which are hung the arms carrying the usual balls, connectingrods being jointed to the balls and to the governor-sleeve 4. A transverse pin carried by the sleeve4 passes through a longitudinal slot in the governor-shaft and through the spindle a, which is thus connected to move longitudinally with the sleeve.

The usual spring, 7, serves to force the sleeve'outward until it is drawn in by the movement of the balls. Between the heads Z j isarranged upon a shaft, k, at right angles to the spindle, a disk, I), which, as shown, consists of two fiat plates, between which is clamped a disk of rubber, leather, or other frictional material, which projects very slightly beyond the edges of the plate, so as to make a frictional rim for contact with the inner faces of the heads, and the latter are arranged at such a distance apart, slightly greater than the diameter of the disk b, that the disk may occupy a central position out of contact with either head; but a very slight longitudinal movement of the spindle a will suffice to bring one head or the other into contact with the disk.

The governor-spindle is provided with a belt-pulley, 8, receiving a belt, or is otherwise geared to be revolved by the action of the engine to be governed, and the parts are so adj usted that when the engine is operating at its proper speed the heads 9' I will both be out of contact with the disk I). \Vhen thus arranged, an extremely slight increase of speed, causing the ball to fly out, will moveinward the sleeve 4, and at once bring the head j into contact with the disk I), and will cause the latter to be at once revolved in the direction of its arrow, and any reduction from the normal speed will carry the head I into contact with the disk b and revolve the latter in an opposite direction. These movements of the disk 12 are made the medium of altering the position of the wedge g or other charge-governing device or regulator.

In the construction shown in the drawings the shaft is is threaded at one point, and there passes through a nut, 9, pivotally supported by a bracket, W, sothat a longitudinal movement will be imparted to the shaft in one direction or the other, according to the direction in which it is turned,this longitudinal adj ustment of the shaft altering the position of the regulator.

' To prevent the disk from continuouslyvrevolving after either head has been brought into contact therewith and until the position of the head is changed, I make the inner face of one head, 9', convex or conical, and the inner face of the head Z parallel therewith or concave, as

shown.

If the head 3' is brought against the edge of 'the disk, it will be revolved until the shaft 70,

turning in its nut 9 in the direction of its ar- 4 row, moves outward sufficientlyto carry the The spindle aslides in ahollow poredge of the disk I) from contact with the conical face of the head, a slight movement of the shaft effecting this-result, so that the disk I) is turned only a few revolutions sufficient to ef feet a slight adjustment of the regulator before it ceases its motion, the regulator therefore being altered in position only just enough to compensate for the slight increase of speed. A like result ensues when the concave head l is brought against the disk; but if in either case the engine continue to accelerate or lessen its motion, one head or the other is continuously moved toward the disk to maintain contact therewith until the regulator is moved to the desired extent. V

The head I is slightly larger in diameter than the head j, and is also provided with a recess,

12, near its center or hub, so that if the head I continues in contact with the disk b, the latter will only turn until the regulator is at the limit of its position,when the disk will pass opposite the recess 1; and will then stop. In like man-.

ner, when the disk continues in contact with the head 9', the disk will be turned until the regulator reaches the limit of its movement in the opposite direction,when the motion of the;

disk will be arrested by its passing from contact with the head, By these means an extremely slight variation in the speed of the engine will at once turn the disk I) in one direction or the other and change the position of the regulator-valve or other regulating appliance; but no further movement of the latter will ensue unless the engine continues to increase or decrease its speed.

Instead of altering the position of the spool in respect to the disk, the spool may have no longitudinal movement, and the disk b may swing between the heads. fecting this consists in connecting the sleeve 4 to a sliding rod or spindle, a, carrying the nut 9.

The'regulator in the construction shown is a curved wedge, g, slotted for the passage of the spindle 12 of the inlet-valve h, which controls the flow of the gaseous charge into the cylinder J of the engine, as set forth in the Letters Patent No. 325,37 8, issued to me September'l, 1885.

In the construction shown the wedge is carried at one end of a pivoted lever, a, carrying at the other end a pivoted bearing, 13-, in which the end of the shaft It turns without sliding. The wedge is curved to correspond to the are of a circle having the pivot 01 of the lever c for its center.

The lever 0 consists of a sleeve or hub, 14, from which the two arms project in opposite directions, the said sleeve turning on a pendent pintle, 15, supported by a bracket, 6, and

the lower end of the sleeve rests on a spiral spring, 18,supported by a nut, 11, on the pin One means of ef- Thus I use a gas-cock, H, in the line of the gas-pipe L, leading to the gas-inlet 62 of the reservoir F, and turn this cock to shut off the gas when the shaft 7t approximates the limit of its outward movement. A lever, 22, is pivoted to a bracket, 23, and arranged to be struck by a ing, 24., on the shaft is only when the shaft has been moved beyond its normal position in consequence of a sudden increase of speed of the engine, and the lower end of the lever is connected by a rod, 25, to the handle 26 of the hollow plug 21 of the cock H,

provided with a case, 20, having an inlet branch, 27, and outlet branch 28.

In the plug are two ports, 29 30, the former larger and above the latter, and aspring, 31, tends to pull the end of the lever 22 in the direction of the arrow, Fig. at.

In Fig. 4 the shaft is is shown at the limit of its outward movement, the stop or lug 2i having moved the lever 22 to carry the valveplug to the positio n shown in Fig. 7.

\Vhen the valve' is in the position shown in Fig. 9, the wedge g has been set to reduce the lift of the valve h to a minimum; but the mixture is of maximum strength, and will so remain as long as there is any considerable resistance to the movements of the engine. As the resistance is now decreased, the stop 21 is brought against the lever 22, and the valve is gradually closed and the proportion of gas admitted is reduced gradually weakening the mixture without proportionately reducing its volume, so that each charge is of such a volume as to be practically employed with ex plosive effect, but the force of the explosion is weakened. As the speed of the engine is now reduced, the shaft it moves back until the cock H is fully opened and the charge becomes constant in quality, as before. When the shaft is has moved fully forward, the stop 24 stands about one-half an inch from the end of the lever 22, (limited in its movement by a stop-pin, 32,) so.that the shaft can have sufficient play to regulate the ordinary movements of the engine without reducing the quality of the mixture. The port 30 is so proportioned and arranged in respect to the port 29 and outlet 28 that after the port 29 has been closed, so that the gas has been cut off to form the lightest mixture that will explode, the further movement of the cock will bring the port 30 opposite the outlet 28, and the port 30 will open in proportion as the port 29 closes, there by preventing any reduction of the volume of the gas admitted,while permitting the further movement of the plug-a movement necessary to close the cutoff, as will be explained hereinafter.

The quantity of gas admitted when the plug is in the position shown in Fig. 8 is that which isjust sufficient to cause as light an explosion as it is practicable to make, and the continued movement of the plug is effected without reducing or varying the size of the gas-passage.

By the means described the governor controls the engine not only until the work is so light that a strong mixture is undesirable, but also as the gas is shut off and as the power is fur ther reduced by varying the strength of the mixture. In this arrangement the wedge is preferably constructed so as never to wholly close or absolutely prevent the movement of the valve 71.

To prevent the waste of gas when the engine is running unloaded, or with little or no re sistance, I employ what I term a cut-off, by which I mean a device which will absolutely prevent for the time the passage of air or gas, or both, to the reservoir or cylinder. A suitable valve device may be used for this purpose at any suitable point in the gas and air passage. In the construction shownI provide the reservoir F with a perforated bottom or valve-seat, 10, above the conduit 33, through which the air and gas flow into the reservoir. A flap-valve, 5, is hinged at 11 below the valve-seat and closes upward againstthe latter under the action of any moving part of the contrivance operated from the governor. Thus a shaft, 17, extends through the conduit 33 and has an internal arm, 6, connected to the valve 5, and an external arm, 18, connected by arod, 3i, witlrthe lever 22, the rod having a slot, 35, to receive a pin, 36, on the lever to permit the latter to vibrate to a limited extent without moving the rod, so that thelever may first move to regulate the quality of the mixture and then on the pin 36, reaching the end of the slot, move the rod 34 in the direction of its arrow, rock the shaft 17, and close the valve 5. Thus it will be seen that the governor iirst regulates the quantity of the mixture while a varying amount of heavy work or resistance is encountered by the engine, that it then varies the quality of the mixture while a varying amount of light work or resistance is encountered, and that it cuts off the mixture absolutely when the resistance is all practically thrown off from the engine.

It will be evident to any one skilled in the art that the above-described mode of regulating a gasengine may be effected by hand or through the medium of many different c011- trivances. I therefore do not limit myself to those shown; nor do I here claim the governing devices shown,consisting of the heads and disk I), as these constitute the subject ofaseparate application, Serial No. 211,299; but

I claim- 1. The within described improvement in regulating gaaengines, consisting in supplying to the cylinder varying volumes of an explosive mixtureof uniform quality until the greater portion of the resistance'is thrown oif and then reducing the proportion of gas in the mixture, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

. 2. The improvement in regulating gas-engines, consisting in maintaining the uniform high explosive quality of the charges during the operation of the engine under high resistance and in varying the quality of the charge when the greater portion of the resistance is thrown off, substantially as described.

3. The improvement in regulating gas engines, consisting in automatically varying the quantity of a uniform highly-explosive mixture during the operations under high resistance and in automatically varying the propoltions ofgas and air when the greater portion of the resistance is thrown off, substantially as described.

4. The improvement in regulating gas-engines, consisting in regulating automatically the volumes of the charges of uniform mixture under varying high resistance and the quality of the mixture under low resistance, and in cutting off automatically the supply of air and gas when the engine is moving practically without resistance, substantially as described.

5. Thecombination, with the cylinder and piston of a gas-engine, of a supply-chamber and means for regulating the flow of gas and air thereto, a valve and a governor, and connections whereby the mixture is maintained constant during the operations of the engine under high resistance, but the charges are varied in quantity, and whereby the quality of the mixture is varied after a determined proportion of the resistance is thrown otl, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with the cylinder-piston, reservoir, valve, governor, and regulating device of agas-engine, of a gas-regulating device and connections with the governor whereby the latter operates the said device to reduce the supply of gas only after a determined resistance has been cut off from the engine, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with the cylinder, piston, reservoir, valve, governor, and chargeregulating devices, of a valve controlling the flow of gas to the reservoir and connections between the valve and governor, substantially as described.

8. The combination, with the reservoir and charge-regulating devices of a gas-engine, of

a gas-inlet pipe, gas-cock, and connections between the cock and the charge-regulating devices, substantially as described.

9. The combination, with the shaft 70, connected with the device regulating the volumes of the charges admitted to the cylinder, of a gas-cock and connections whereby the move ment of the shaft only when beyond a determined extent insures the .reduction of the proportion of the gas in the explosive mixture, substantially as described.

10. The combination of the shaft 70, con nected with devices regulating the movements of the valve 71., stop 24., lever 22, gas-cock H, and connections between the latter and the lever, substantially as described.

11. The combinationof the lever 22 and devices for regulating the volumes of the charges, having a limited movement independent of said lever, and a gas-cock connected with said lever, substantially as described.

12. The combination of the reservoir, gascock, lever connected thereto, and charge-re ulating devices arranged to operate independent of the lever and to operate the latter after having a limited motion, substantially as described.

13. The gas-cock provided with a port arranged to gradually reduce the charge as the cock is moved, and with a second port arranged and proportioned to maintain the flow of the gas after it has been reduced to a minimum, substantially as described. 7

14. The gas-plug provided with the ports 29 30, arranged substantially as described in respect to the case, having an inlet and outlet, and in the pipe leading to the reservoir of a gas-engine. 1

15. The combination, with a gas-engine, of a reservoir, its valve and devices controlling the flow through the latter, and a cut-off and governor, whereby the flow to the reservoir is reduced when the engine approaches and wholly cut off when the e1 ine exceeds a determined speed, substantially as described.

16. A cut-off combined with an automaticoperatingdevice, eharge-controlling devices, and with the reservoir ofa gas-engine to cut off the supply to the reservoir when the engine exceeds a determined speed, substantially as described.

17. The combination, with the cylinder, piston, reservoir, inlet-valve, and appliances to control the charge of agasengine, of a cut-off valve connected with the controlling devices to be closed thereby when the speed of the engine exceeds predetermined limits, substantially as described.

18. The combination of appliances, substantially as described, for controlling the quantity of the gas-engine charges, and a cut off Valve connected to and operated by said appliances when the engine speedexceeds a predetermined limit, substantially as described.

19. The combination of the lever 22, connected to operate the gasvalve, and a cutoff valve also connected to be operated by said lever, substantially as described.

20. The combination of the gas-cock, operating-lever, cut-off valve, and connections whereby the cut-off valve is closed by said 1ever after the gas-cock has been moved to its maximum extent, substantially as described.

21. The combination, with the reservoir F, of a valve-plate, cut-oft valve 5, gas-inlet 62, gas-cock H, and governor and connections ICO 24. The combination, with the wedge and I 5 governing devices of an engine, of alever carrying the wedge, a pintle extending through the lever, and a spring-bearing for the lever and an adjusting device for the spring, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CYRUS W. BALDWVIN.

\Vitnesses:

ADOLPAHM PETERSEN, LEMUEL H. ORISFIELD. 

